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Misadventures in Journalism - Fun With Press Releases
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Nicky Nik in all his glory. It sure doesn't get much more funny than a dog biting a man's testicles.
Through the wondrous liberating power of YouTube and MySpace, almost any comedian can now get a TV or movie deal, even if they aren't funny at all.
Enter Nicky Nik, a once struggling comedian turned YouTube sensation known primarily for keeping a potato in his underpants and looking like "a perverted Magnum P.I."
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According to a recent press release, the man whose real name is Nick James got a developmental deal with Moving Pictures, the television division of Denis Publishing, who boasts ownership of your favorite classy magazines of high culture – Maxim, Blender, and Stuff.
The release said that James had gone into the Maxim offices to pitch a reality show and was recognized by an intern. The intern then allegedly asked the head of development why “NickyNik” had been in the office. When asked who NickyNik was, the hip, in-the-know intern then showed his boss the YouTube videos who in turn was so impressed (presumably by the potato in the underpants gag) that he offered James a deal to make a TV show called "Nicky Nik: Man of Action." (Will Buddy Lee's attorneys allow this?)
This was a godsend to James who until recently was just another struggling comedian/actor in Los Angeles.
“I got sick of the audition grind,” said James. “It’s so agonizing going on call after call and not getting the part, or only getting bit parts that barely pay the rent. I have a family. I have a mortgage. I’m getting too old for that.”
NickyNik got another big break by recently appearing on the Tonight Show with another YouTuber performing a stunt with a giant rubber band.
The press release goes on to note that James is working on plans for a Web talk show that will be shot in a friend’s garage and is also honing his stand-up comedy act, basing his routine on biographical material gleaned mostly from his upbringing as a white kid in a predominantly black neighborhood in late 70’s Cleveland.
“I wanted to be pimp when I grew up,” said James. “When I was eleven years old I asked Santa Clause for a purple, fur coat and a gold-tipped cane.”
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You the LAist reader may be skeptical, but I say God bless a country where men who entertain with fake-70's mustaches and dogs that bite their seed-bearing organs can get their own TV show in 2007.
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Thanks YouTube for finding us these hidden gems of comedy.
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